1. Field of the Invention
This invention pertains generally to wireless telephone systems, and more particularly to secure wireless communications from personal mobile communication devices and fixed location group oriented communication devices.
2. Description of Related Art
Over the past few decades mobile phones (i.e. cellular and satellite) have evolved in a number of ways, becoming more central to our connected lifestyles. These mobile phones are being used for voice communications (i.e. over the cellular network or in peer-to-peer connectivity), emails, and network browsing. In addition non-traditional functions are supported including financial transactions such as the charging of goods and services using the cellular phone, the sending still and streaming images, providing personal digital assistant functionality, and other applications. The ubiquity of cellular phones has even begun overlapping traditional wired-line functionality.
Major U.S. corporations have seen the benefit of interfacing cellular phones with conventional, wired, land line phones. In fact, companies such as Siemens®, Northern Telecom Limited®, Nortel Networks Limited®, and Tellular® have received patents for interfacing cell phones with land line conventional wired systems.
One such device provides a dial-tone interface for coupling between satellite phones in a wired phone network (i.e. multiple phones in a home or office environment) and a cellular phone. This can for example, replace the conventional wired connection from the home or office to a central office with a wireless cellular communication system. With the dial-tone interface installed on a small wired phone network, conventional phones attached to the network, such as through RJ-11 input jacks, can make and receive calls through the dial-tone interface which communicates wirelessly by cellular and/or satellite protocols. In this way conventional wired phones and functionality can be utilized. Many areas of the world lack wired-line infrastructure and must rely on wireless connectivity generally provided with cellular and satellite systems. By utilizing a cellular phone base coupled through a dial-tone network a number of phone “extensions” can be supported, such as in residential and business settings without the need of separate cellular connectivity at each phone or FAX.
Some systems on the market utilize existing cellular phones which are connected to the dial-tone interface either by an adapter cable or as a charging cradle. In other systems a mobile phone chip, such as removed from a cellular phone, is installed within the dial tone interface. Systems are also available which act like a small PBX to route calls to/from either a cellular network or a wired-line phone network.
One of the drawbacks of these innovations is that they utilize new and dynamic analog and digital cell systems and link them to an antiquated wired-line telephone communications segment. The cost and complexity of converting between cellular protocols and wired protocols should be appreciated, especially since advanced cell systems have no need for “dial tones.”
Conventional mobile telephones use identification cards or chips, such as I.D. SIM cards, that can not be readily installed or removed from a given cellular phone device. These cellular phone devices typically require the removal of an access panel, and then a set of batteries before removing or installing the I.D. SIM card. However, anyone can remove the phone chips from current-art telephones, as no security is currently available. This brings up another problem with utilizing these wireless solutions, especially in fixed base operations, which is theft of the phone chip.
It should be noted that on a wired-line system, calls are billed based on which calls passed through the wired infrastructure. However, with cellular calls a removable “phone chip” is connected within the phone to provide an identifier necessary for accessing the network and for providing billing identification information for the call. These phone chips are often stolen from mobile cellular phones allowing the perpetrator to charge both calls and services to the owner of the phone from which the “phone chip” was taken. It will be appreciated that the use of fixed base cellular configurations provide even easier targets for phone chip theft.
Therefore, a need exists for advanced wireless telephone communication systems which can be utilized securely with wireless networks and wired networks. The present system fulfills that need and overcomes the problems associated with deploying wireless phone connectivity in homes, offices, and vehicles.